(Patrick) Riguelle and (Jan) Hautekiet are to musicians that devoted themselves
- at first very soberly, then with a band - in authentically interpreting songs
of others.
Songs
"How do you Stop"
1'17 sec. - 151 Kb.
song : Dan Hartman / Charlie Midnight
"Veronica"
1'7 sec. - 133 Kb.
song : Declan McManus, Paul Mc Cartney
Year : 1998
Record co. : VIA
"Two Girls"
50,4 sec. - 99 Kb.
song : Townes Van Zandt
"Cockpit"
48,9 sec. - 96 Kb.
song : dirk Blanchart
"High on a Hilltop"
50,6 sec. - 100 Kb.
song : Nick Lowe
Year : 2000
Record co. : LC Music
Before these two gentlemen found each other in the project Riguelle & Hautekiet,
they both had a yearlong history in the shadows or somewhat more in to the foreground
of Belgian rock behind them.
Jan
Hautekiet started his career in the rockband Stewball in the late seventies
(with also Karel Vereertbruggen and Vincent Rouffaer in the line-up), but got
his fame & fortune first and foremost through radiostation Studio Brussel
which he co-founded in 1993 and is heading since 1998. Between his busy radiowordk
(Hallo Hautekiet) he has always kept on making the time to play accordion or piano
- mostly live - with a number of bands & projects (eg. the LSP Band, Spelers
& Drinkers, the "Dokter Devuyst"-musical, A
Vapore ...). Patrick Riguele started in the eighties with K13, did beautiful things
in the background with dirk Blanchart (The Groove
Quartet), Salvatore Adamo and Brendan Croker (the Serious
Offenders), tried rocking again with The Responsibles, became singer of Kadril
(and made folkmusic acceptable again to rock audiences), and gained respect everywhere
with his versatile voice.
Of course these two musicians had met each other during all these meanderings
through the Flemish music scene, playing together in "Eikels Worden Boomen"
(a Brosella project), Spelers & Drinkers, a Bob Dylan Tribute, and closing
down the tv-show "Wijlen de Week". Riguelle about this later : "It
snapped from the first time. The feeling of "hey, that seems an interesting
bloke" was already there loger. But at Brosella Folk, now seven years ago,
I struck me at once : that's my man." On request of the Cultural centre
of Ukkel, they put their heads together in October 1997 to put on a show "Riguelle
en Hautekiet Intiem", with covers that appealed to them both (e.g. Jacques
Brel, Robert Long, Wim Sonnevelt ... were present in this first show). The
combination of Hautekiet's austere and functional piano and the chameleonic vocals
of Patrick Riguelle, provided enough chemistry and goosebumps there and then to
make this a lasting project.
In 1998 Riguelle & Hautekiet recorded a first - very sober - CD "A
Minor Thing", in Jet Studio's in Brussels with Staf Verbeeck. Highlights
on this cd with nothing but covers ware certainly "How do you stop"
(as best known from Joni Mitchell), Elvis Costello's "Veronica"
and Richard Thompson's "I feel so good". Other artists that 'delivered'
songs that were interpreted by the duo were a.o. John Cale ("Carribean Sunset"),
Neil Young ("Don't let it bring you down"), The Beach Boys ("God
only knows"), XTC ("1000 Umbrellas" én "Books
are burning"), Bob Dylan ("Lovesick"), the Stones ("Down
in the hole") or Kevin Coyne ("Are you deceiving me?").
To the question of if they feel any hesitance in playing songs of these kinds
of "monuments", Patrick Riguelle answered "Jan is even more
ruthless in that respect than me. I used to have a little bit of restraint, but
he has taken that away alltogether (laughs). I only have a humble attitude towards
the song, not so much towards the artist. A songs leads a life of it's own. And
that's a good thing. If a song were to exist only by the grace of the artist,
what would happen if the artist passes away? Jacques Brel has been dead for quite
a while, and that would mean we couldn't play his songs anymore? Please no, because
then his songs would also die."
The CD certainly did get a warm welcome - Humo wrote for example "The
music is as beautiful as it is unaffected. There was no budget, but this didn't
hamper the quality in any way", or Knack "their interpretations
are never spectacular, but they play the songs with style and feeling. They deserve
respect for their valiant effort." - which led them to a long tour in
which they played on stage as unplugged as on the CD.
In the year after, Patrick Riguelle and Jan Hautekiet were the nucleus of De
Laatste Showband, a rockband which closes the equally named talkshow on TV1
each night with a cover. Still, they didn't continue under that - probably more
famous - name. What they did change was the line-up: they hired the services of
a rhythm section, namely Joost van den Broek (the blonde drummer of the
Laatste Showband, earlier with My Velma) and Werner
Lauscher (session musician for acts such as Jo Lemaire
and Zakformaat XL). This provided for
a much fuller sound, and led them to a more varied repertoire.
The name of their second CD became "Red
Harmony" (named so after a type of Gibson-guitar), and this time
they chose songs from the works of Pete Townshend ("Secondhand love"),
Townes van Zandt ("Two Girls"), John Lennon (a ruthless version
of "How do you sleep"), Nick Lowe ("High on a Hilltop")
or Tom Waits ("Red Shoes By the Drugstore") and dirk
Blanchart's "Cockpit". Returning in the choice of artists chosen
were Richard Thompson ("Shoot out the lights"), Neil Young ("Words
(Between the Lines of Age)" and John Cale ("Taking your Life
in your Hands"). The repertoire chosen wasn't always as self-evident
though, as seen by a cover of Marianne Faithfull's "Over Here (No Time for
Justice)" - an obscure B-side - or lesser known artists such as Tim Easton
("Everywhere is Somewhere"). Common in all these songs - as says the
bio - "Songs from the collective memory about life and death, love and
suffering. Songso of being on the road, about searching, about coming home and
saying goodbye. Pieces of musical heritage. Good for a quality night on the road
in search of authenticity. Love for Music. Red Harmony", or as Jan Hautekiet
told de Standaard in an interview "That is authenticity. On this album
there are nothing but honourable artist. They don't sing just anything. Most of
these songs are to be seen as a whole: lyrics and music together. That's very
important for us. On this alumb you can hear our true soul."
Of course there was a tour after the release of this CD also, and thanks to
the new line-up they had the chance of bringing it also on bigger stages (e.g.
Lokerse Feesten). In July 2001, this meant that had Riguelle & Hautekiet -
with a number of guests - had the honour of closing the Genste Feesten - a tradition
normally performed by Raymond van het Groenewoud.
Buy CD's of this band at
Albums :
- A Minor Thing (VIA, 1998)
- Red Harmony (LC Music, 2001)
Websites :
- riguellehautekiet.com is the official site
- My review of the CD "Red Harmony"
- management : Lipstick Notes
- Booking & concert calendar : Garifuna
- The Candelaershuys
in Ukkel is at the base of this, with "Riguelle en Hautekiet intiem"
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